Half to henry keller



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

. G. H. ELLIS. MAGHINB POR MAKING TWINB PROM STRAW, PLAX, HEM?, am.

No. 433,856. f Patented Aug. 5, 1890.

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Wim" 1 nlihmf' Wil/771711117717 (No Mom.) 2 sheets-sheet 2.

G. H. ELLIS. A MACHINE POR MAKING TWINE PROM STRAW, FLAX, HEMP, 650. No. 433,856. Patented Aug. 5, 1890..

ATTEST.

' INVENTOR. Weke v fvg/AA Z599 UNITED .STATES PATENT OFFTCE;

GEORGE H. ELLIS, OF SAUK CENTRE, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OE ONE- v HALF TO HENRY KELLER.

MACHINE FOR MAKING TWINE FROM STRAW, FLAX,v HEMP, 84C.

- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 433,856, dated August 5, 1890. application filed March 24, 189i). Serial No. 345,172. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. ELLIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Sauk Centre, in the county of Stearns and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Making Twine from Straw, Flax, Hemp, &c., and I do hereb57 declare the following to be a full, clear,

and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make'and use the same.

Hy invention aims to provide a twine made wholly and entirely from straw, and which will for all practical purposes be of uniform thickness and strengththroughout its entire length, and which will be strong, smooth, and

` andknotter mechanism of the modern binder,

and which will pass readilythrough the eye of the binder-needle without bunching or constructed is its unequal thicknessor roughtension devices.

stripping,.and which can be ,tied in any ordinary knot by any harvesterlknotter mechanism. n

The chief purpose and v'object of the in'- vention i's to devise a mechanism for constructing the twine by machinery that will be simple, cheap, and eficient, and willperform the work in a rapid and convenient manner. The principal objection obtaining against straw rope or twine as heretofore ness, the latter causing it to bunchor strip in the eye of the binding-needle, and the first-mentioned objection causing it to break when passing through the several guides and Vhen wrapped by a thread or strand, as has been proposed, the cost of production is so great as to practically keep it off the market, and the said straw or thread is liable to break and bunch up in the eye of the binding-needle and cause delay and vexation in readjusting the twine.

The salient feature of the present invention is the mechanism for carryin into eect the method which is claimed in the application iiled by me March 20, 1890,v Serial No.

motion on its axis only, and the delivery pori tions of such heads being disposed in'close proximity to each other, and a rotatory twister arranged to twist together the strands immediately upon quitting the delivery portions of .the twisting-heads.

A further feature of the invention is the holding of the strand under compression during the process of twistingv together the straws which comprise the said strand. To effect'this end I provide a tube, which l will designate as a spinning-tube, in which the straws to form the lrespective strands are confined while being twisted together. This tube must have a bore equal to the size of the completed strand, so as to compress the straws while twisting, thereby making the completed strand of uniform thickness. Obviously for different sizes of strands spinning-tubes of .different-sized bores must be provided. These spinning-tubes may be separate from the twisting-heads, or mayform a part of the twisting-head frame, as required. 'Iwo or more single strands may be twisted together to formfa twine of two, three, or as many plies as desired. Owing to the tendency of the straws which compose a strand to iiy apart, ity has been found necessary to twist the strands together as close aspossible to the exit ends of the spinning-tubes, or de- `livery portionsof the twisting-heads; hence it has been determined by practical demonstration that the said exit. ends or delivery portions of the twisting-heads must be brought as close together as possible and that the strands must be grasped and twisted together as close as possible to the ends of the spinning-tubes or delivery portions of the twisting-heads.

To carry out the invention in a simple, convenient, and practical manner, I have devised the mechanism which hereinafter will be more fully described, and which is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which-'- Figure l is a plan view, parts being broken away, of a machine of my constrnctionembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is ahorizontal section, on an venlarged scale, of a single twisting-head, showing the means for operating it. Fig. is a section on the line X X of Fig. 2, looking to the left. Fig. 4 is a detail section showing the means for operating the feed-rollers.

A'representsa frame or support for the operating parts of the machine.

B is a shaft, which is 'driven by any suitable power, as by crank lb.

vC C represent two rotatory strand-formin g twisting-heads, which are geared with shaft B, preferably by means of the miter-wheels D and D', the miter-wheel D forming part of the twisting-head frames. These twistlng-heads are arranged so that their axes converge, the angle between them being sufficient to effect the best results and prevent interference of the one with the other and with the shaft B, an angle of about forty-five degrecs to the medial line being found to give the best results. These rotatory twistingheads C and O are journaled at their ends in the bearing-blocks E, E and E2 in any suitable manner, preferably by the tubes F and Gr, and have motion on their axes only.

H and I are two feed-rollers, which are secured on the shafts h and t', that are journalcd in the sides of the twisted frame. One end of each of the shafts h and t is reduced and passesathrough one side of the frame. The projecting ends of the shafts are provided with the pinions .I and K, which are in gear with the worm-shaft L, the latter being Journaled in the gear-wheelA D and provided on its exterior end with the pinion M, which meshes with the pinion N on the plate O, which is secured to the bearing E or E. The feed-roller I is preferably of compressible material-such as rubber-to permit the passage of the straws between it and the roller H.

The tube F is of a bore corresponding with the diameter of the strand or twine to be formed, and is of sufficient length to efect a twisting in ofthe ends of the straws, the twisting being done between the exit end of the said tube and the rollers H and I, as shown in Fig. 2. This tube serves to compress the straws and hold them in close relation during the process of twisting.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The straws are fed to the rotatory strandforming twisting-heads one or two at a time in such a manner that theends of one straw or set of straws will overlap the end or ends of the other straw or straws, as shown in Fig.- 1, so that when the straws are twisted together they will form a continuous strand, the twisting of the straws being effected by operating shaft B, which, through the gearing D and D', revolves the strand-forming twistingheads C and C on their axes only,y the rollers H and I being operated through means of the gearing J, I?, L, M, and NL As the strands emerge from the spinning-tubes or delivery portions of the strand-forming twisting-heads,

they are grasped by a suitable rotatory twister, as I", which twists them together immediately upon being freed from the confinement of the delivery-tubes. Inasmuch as various means may be devised for twisting the strands together, for the sake of simplicity I have shown a flier P, which is of well-known construction and operation, and comprises the frame Q and the driving-wheel R, the spindle U, formed with the double screw-threads S, and the receiving-spool T.

I do not limit the use of my invention to straw alone, but I use the crude material of other vegetable growthssucl1 as dax-stalks, hemp, &c. xWhile I have used the word l straw alone in most instances throughout the foregoing description, I have used it in a generic sense to cover any kind of vegetable growths when taken in their crude state and being capable of manufacture into twine.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination, with a series of rotatory strand-forming twisting-heads having converging axes, each twisting-head having motion on its axis only and the delivery por tions of such heads being disposed in close proximity to each other, of a rotatory twister arranged to twist'together the strands immediately upon quitting the delivery portions of the twisting-heads, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a series of rotatory strand-forming twisting-heads having converging axes, each twisting-head having motion on its axis only and the delivery portions ot such heads being disposed in close proximity to each other, of a rotatory twister arranged to twist'together the strands immediately upon being freed from the confine- IOO IIO

ment of the delivery portions of the twistingheads, substantially as described.

3. vThe combination, with a converging series of rotatory strand-forming twisting-heads having their axes each arranged at any angle of approximately forty-five degrees to a medial line, each having motion onits axis only and each having a spinning-tube of exactly the diameter of the strand to be produced, of a rotatory twister arranged to twist together the strands immediately upon being freed from the confinement of t-he delivery-tubes of the twisting-heads,substantially as described. l

4. The combination, with the converging series of rotatory strand forming twistingheads, each having motion on its axis only and being provided with a pair of feed-rplls and ivith a delivery-tube of exactly the dameter of the strand to be produced, of a r0;

In Vtestimony whereof affix my' si gnature in presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE H. ELLIS.

Witnesses: y

C. M. SPRAGUE, J os. O. ESTEEM, 

